After running a motel for two years, Alexandra Mengual and her husband Mark Matula came to love the lifestyle.
So when an old motel was listed for sale in a remote town in Queensland, the couple just knew they wanted to buy it.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Aussie gives a tour of her motel.
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Alexandra, 27, and Mark, 29, now have ambitious plans to renovate the 16-room motel and its bar and restaurant — and achieve the whole project on a budget.
The Sydney couple grew to love running motels after working for two years as moteliers at Moruya, on the NSW far south coast.
But they walked away from the busy city life altogether after they spied a motel for sale in regional Queensland.
The pair are now proud owners of the Copper Country Motor Inn in Nanango, which also has a swimming pool and vineyard.
They plan to spend the next five years renovating the lodge, which was built in two parts in the 1980s and ‘90s, adding modern touches to every space.
And they hope to reopen the restaurant that had been shut for quite a while before they took over as owners.
“After our two year stint at our previous motel, which was our first experience as moteliers, we really loved it and decided we wanted to continue in this industry,” Alexandra tells 7Life.
“It provided a lifestyle we loved, the opportunity to work from home so we could both be there for our 11-month-old son Matteo and also the opportunity to work our other business in tandem.”
The young family-of-three lives in a four-bedroom house onsite as there is a managers’ residence attached to the motel.
In addition to running a motel full time, the entrepreneurial couple also owns a custom electric guitar business called Kepler Guitars.
After moving to regional Queensland last month, the couple realises they would “probably never live in a big city again”.
“I just love having space and open fields. There is also a lot more of a community in small towns,” Alexandra says.
“People really support small business and are there for each other.”
One drawback is that the couple missed the unlimited food options offered by the big city.
“Going down the road for Sushi or Mexican isn’t really an option here,” she says.
In the two years the couple worked at the previous motel, they say they really managed to grow the income and occupancy of the property.
“We thought, hey we can do this again,” Alexandra says.
The pair started looking at motels all around Australia and had managed to save a decent amount of money from work at the previous establishment.
“We set off to find a motel that had good bones and hidden potential but maybe wasn’t being utilised to its full potential,” Alexandra says.
“We weren’t looking to buy a super nice motel that was already looking fantastic and had great revenue because we couldn’t afford that anyway.
“Our value is our ability to grow a business.”
Alexandra says that when the couple found the motel that they now own, “it had beautiful land, beautiful structures and so much untapped potential”.
“The books were OK, but I knew I could really bring it to the next level with some business strategy,” she says.
The motel side of the business is still running but the restaurant has been closed for a while.
The couple plans to get the restaurant and bar renovated so they can open up that side of the business, before starting to renovate the rooms one by one.
When they purchased the motel, the couple went into “mega-clean up mode”.
“The vineyard wasn’t landscaped for at least three years and was so overgrown that it looked terrible,” Alexandra says.
“Mark has been hard at work making that look pretty again.
“I have been focusing on getting the business side of the motel working better so we can increase our income.”
The pair is self-funding the renovations, doing up the entire motel on a budget.
“Mostly we will be doing all the labour ourselves, re-flooring, painting etc,” Alexandra says.
They will also be upcycling what is already there, including the bistro’s wooden tables and chairs.
“They look dated currently but new upholstery and refinishing the stain will make a world of difference,” she says.
But the modern touches they plan will be complemented by keeping its “country feeling”.
“We are also going to turn the bar into a cosy beer and wine room,” Alexandra says.
“After that project is complete, and hopefully bringing in some extra income, we can then start using those funds to renovate the rooms.”
Alexandra and Mark are also planning to rent the venue out for weddings and events in the future.
She says she is “most excited for the beer and wine room which I really want to give a cosy, intimate and vintage atmosphere”.
The couple wants to purchase a second property in five to seven years.
“We will be 32 and 34 by then so we will still have the energy to do it all over again,” Alexandra says.
“We are just so excited.
“This property has so much potential and we can’t wait to see it full of people enjoying everything we have worked hard to create.”
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